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Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill rode to glory on the back of the strong declarative sentence.

William Zinsser

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William Zinsser
Age: 92 †
Born: 1922
Born: October 7
Died: 2015
Died: May 12
Journalist
Literary Critic
Writer
New York City
New York
William Knowlton Zinsser
Sentence
Sentences
Declarative
Glory
Winston
Strong
Rode
Back
Churchill
Abraham
Lincoln

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Many of us were taught that no sentence should begin with but. If that's what you learned, unlearn it - there's no stronger word at the start. It announces a total contrast with what has gone before, and the reader is thereby primed for the change.
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Ultimately the product that any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is.
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As a writer I try to operate within a framework of Christian principles, and the words that are important to me are religious words: witness, pilgrimage, intention.
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Memoir is the art of inventing the truth.
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Even a poor translator couldn't kill a style that moves with such narrative clarity.
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Writing is thinking on paper.
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The best way to learn to write is to study the work of the men and women who are doing the kind of writing you want to do.
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Nobody becomes Tom Wolfe overnight, not even Tom Wolfe.
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Nobody ever stopped reading E. B. White or V. S. Pritchett because the writing was too good.
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Clutter is the disease of American writing.
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There's no subject you don't have permission to write about. Students often avoid subjects close to their heart ... because they assume that their teachers will regard those topics as 'stupid.' No area of life is stupid to someone who takes it seriously. If you follow your affections you will write well and will engage your readers.
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There are all kinds of writers and all kinds of methods, and any method that helps you to say what you want to say is the right method for you.
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The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components.
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Not every oak has to be gnarled, every detective hard-bitten. The adjective that exists solely as a decoration is a self-indulgence for the writer and an obstacle for the reader.
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All writers should strive to deliver something fresh-something editors or readers won't know they want until they see it.
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If the nails are weak, your house will collapse. If your verbs are weak and your syntax is rickety, your sentences will fall apart.
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A writer will do anything to avoid the act of writing.
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Examine every word you put on paper. You'll find a surprising number that don't serve any purpose.
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Rewriting is the essence of writing well - where the game is won or lost.
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Be wary of security as a goal. It may often look like life's best prize. Usually it's not.
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